“I…am going…to die.” Kyuhyun huffed out as he climbed up the seemingly endless stairs towards the main fortress.

“Aw, c’mon Kyu! Don’t be like that!” Ryeowook called down to him, “Seohyun’s going at least twice as fast and she doesn’t even seem tired yet!”

“That’s because … she’s a mutant!” He hollered at the girlfriend that was at least 100 steps ahead of him. No response.

Exhausted and gasping, Kyuhyun slumped on one of the rocks to the side of the path. The rough texture scraped at his bare skin but he was too tired to move. He had been climbing forever. A strong breeze chilled his sweat soaked shirt, reminding him just how high up they were. Altitude sickness; that could be a good excuse.

“Hey, are you really this out of shape?” Ryeowook stood beside him, smiling. Apparently the guide had back-tracked down to him. Kyuhyun held up a finger for a second to catch his breath.

“It’s just…just altitude sickness.” He breathed.

The guide chuckled, “Okay, first of all, this is barely a mile off of sea level. You’d have to have some serious lung conditions to get altitude sickness. And second, breathing hard and having no muscle endurance are not signs of altitude sickness. They’re signs of being out of shape.”

Kyuhyun scowled, “Shut up.”

“Kyuhyun!” Seohyun stood, waving wildly, on the next observation deck. She was so far away she looked about the size of his thumb. How on earth had she gotten up there so fast?

“Kyuhyun! Climb faster! You’ll be less tired while walking!” She yelled.

“That doesn’t make any sense!” Kyuhyun yelled back.

“Just do it! And hurry!”

Kyuhyun made face in her direction, even though he was pretty sure she wouldn’t be able to see it, and huffed, slumping further down onto his makeshift chair.

Beside him, Ryeowook laughed. “She’s right you know. You have to climb faster to outrun the exhaustion.”

Kyuhyun eyed him warily. “It doesn’t make sense when you say it either.”

“Just get up! We’re already halfway there!” Grabbing Kyuhyun by the hand, Ryeowook forcibly pulled his limp body up off the seat.

Kyu groaned, “That just means we still have halfway to go!”

“Oh, don’t be one of those people, Kyuhyun!”

“But I am one of those people!”

“Trust me! The view is completely worth it!” Ryeowook chirped happily, ignoring Kyuhyun’s pessimism.

Kyuhyun quickly gave in, allowing the petite guide to drag him up the ridiculously steep flight of steps. Watching the guide chatter happily about the wonders in the top of the fort, (blood was pumping way too loud in his ears to hear anything) the aching guilt crept back into his system.

He hadn’t told Ryeowook about his conversation with Seohyun last night. All the guide knew right now was that he and Seohyun were getting along better and had happily commented on that during breakfast. If only he knew it came at his expense.

It should not have to be hard to send Ryeowook off. He’d known him for three days and they spent half of them bantering. That should barely qualify him as an aquaintance. But for some reason, he felt didn't want to lose the guy. Ryeowook seemed to genuinely care about making them happy and had overlooked his screwups quite nicely. How could he just dump him? All that combined with the guide’s bubbly exterior was making it very hard to dismiss Ryeowook from his position.

When they finally reached the observation deck, the first thing Seohyun did was give Kyuhyun, whose hand was still trapped in Ryeowook’s iron grip, a rather cynical look. It did wonders to his reservations.

After resting for few minutes so Kyuhyun could stop hyperventilating, they all continued to climb upwards, this time with Seo sticking close to Kyuhyun’s side.

The rest of the walk was brutal. There was wind, the air was thin, and Kyuhyun could barely feel his wobbling legs. Still, twenty minutes of straight climbing later, they set foot on the brick pavement of the fort’s main courtyard. It did not feel worth it.

Kyuhyun stumbled to the fortress wall; head down in an attempt to move some more blood into his brain.

“I can’t…believe…we made it.”

He wasn’t sure what was worse: the lack of oxygen reaching his lungs or the painful effects of his dehydration from sweating so much. Gasping for air, it was apparent they made each other worse.

He felt a hand on his back. Seohyun?

“Kyuhyun. Look up.”

Reluctantly, he lifted his head and the view took his remaining breath away.

The entire island lay sprawled before him. Every tree and hill and beach was exposed in its stark beauty. He could see every detail straight out to the ocean. No, it wasn’t a cloudless day. It was better. Rays of sunlight peeked through silvery clouds, casting random spots of gold into a monotone stretches of land. An entire beach glowed as if the center of a massive spotlight. It was amazing.

“Wow” He breathed, "This is quite a view."

“I know right?”

The voice wasn’t Seohyun’s. Kyuhyun turned his head, confused. It was Ryeowook.

The guide was still gazing at the landscape, eyes filled with absolute awe. An ocean wind blew his soft black hair back, exposing the entirety of his face. Ryeowook’s delicate cheekbones and gentle features were colored by the sun, as if highlighting the vitality which he radiated. And Kyuhyun could only stare.

“Most beautiful view on the island.”

“Yeah, it is.” Kyuhyun spoke his words so light they were carried off by the wind. His gaze never wandered from the petite man’s face.

Slowly, Ryeowook turned to him. A gentle smile touched his lips and Kyuhyun felt himself smile back. Gazes resting on each other, the rest of the world faded to nothing. Neither one shyed away or broke the gaze. For once the universe had given them a moment of peace. And they were going to take it.

Gradually, the ray of sun disappeared, covered by the clouds. Ryeowook was the first to blink, registering the loss of warmth. He lightly laughed and turned back to the island view.

“It’s really an incredible place isn’t it?” He asked as if nothing had happened.

“Yeah..." Kyuhyun stuttered, "It is.” He quickly turned back to the landscape view, swallowing the lump in his throat. Now his face decides to burn and his heart begins to race? Great timing. Staring at the crystal clear scene of paradise, Kyuhyun felt almost underwhelmed.

The stared in silence for another few seconds before Kyuhyun felt a sudden shuffle on his other side. Seohyun had arrived, holding out a bottle of water.

“Here, Kyuhyun. I filled your water for you. You seemed to be dying on the way up here.”

Kyuhyun chuckled tensely, the dry throat and tired legs catching up to him again.

“Thanks, Seohyun.”

“Yeah, no problem,” She smiled and turned to Ryeowook, “I got you a bottle too.”

Ryeowook received it with a ‘Thank you.’ As Seohyun admired the view, the guide began explaining the history and importance of the ancient fortress, strategically located to defend from water and land attacks. To the south was the glittering expanse of the Caribbean Sea and as they could see, the other side was the entire island. Now come on; they had an entire fortress to explore.

Kyuhyun followed passively, heart clenching when Seohyun lightly grabbed onto his arm.

That moment with Ryeowook was nothing. Just a mere few seconds. Obviously. But his heart would flutter and his lips would leap into a grin whenever Ryeowook looked at him and he just couldn't help but feel happy. Seohyun’s weight on his arm was the only reminder he couldn't like those feelings. This would likely be the last day Ryeowook would spend with them.

Admittedly, this was the strongest tour of so far. The fortress took a hundred years to build and the thing still wasn't finished. It was filled with cannons and masks and weapons that Ryeowook always went on to explain. Kyuhyun barely noticed. As they trailed around the impressive structure of the fort, his extreme unease kept creeping back in. It should not be this hard to tell Ryeowook. It should not. However by the time they looped back to the main courtyard, completing the tour, it seemed like Seohyun was done waiting for Kyuhyun to say something. 

“Um, Ryeowook,” She timidly interrupted the guide’s perky chatter, “Before we head back down, could you show me where the bathroom is? I have to go.”

“Oh, of course!” Ryeowook happily led them to a small café.

Before she left for the bathroom, Seohyun gave Kyuhyun a very expectant look. Sighing, he glanced at dejectedly at Ryeowook. Obviously Seohyun was going to uphold her end of the deal, he’d have to act on his.

“So, Kyuhyun. You want to get anything while we’re here? Going down the stairs is easier but you still might get a little winded without the proper energy.” The guide feigned a look of concern.

“Oh har har,” Kyuhyun rolled his eyes, “You’re hilarious.” His heart skipped a beat when Ryeowook returned it with a cheeky grin.

“I know I am. Now get over here. It’s impolite to use a restaurant’s bathroom without buying their food.”

“Appealing sentence.” Kyuhyun muttered, but he wandered over to the glass cabinets anyways.

There were displays of sandwiches, wraps, and even some soups. Ryeowook had his nose pressed to the dessert display, carefully observing a pastry through the glass. Fairly partial to sweets himself, Kyuhyun joined him.

“Wow. Even halfway across the world chocolate cake still looks exactly the same.”

“Tastes better though. They use real cocoa and sugar.” The guide muttered slowly creeping down the aisle.

“It must taste magical at seven bucks a slice.”

“It’s a tourist attraction. What do you expect?” Ryeowook slid a little closer to look at a glass of pudding, nearly bumping into Kyuhyun.

Suddenly, the room got very hot. Kyuhyun quickly turned away before he did something stupid, though what that would be he wasn’t sure. Instead he pretended to be fascinated by the brightly colored posters covering the counter.

“Kyuhyun, are you sure you don’t want anything?” The smaller called.

“Mmhm,” Kyuhyun didn’t trust himself to say anything.

“Whatcha looking at?” Ryeowook stood by him.

“Oh just some…” He gestured to the papers covered in foreign writing he didn’t understand, “…advertisements?”

“Really?” Ryeowook leaned down to take a look then gave Kyuhyun a strange expression.

Frustratingly, Kyuhyun could feel himself blushing. What was with him today? He was supposed to be telling Ryeowook to basically leave and instead he was just awkwardly standing he like a moron. Seohyun was going to be back any second. Why was this so hard?

“Kyuhyun?”

“Yeah?” He blinked realizing he hadn’t heard a word Ryeowook said.

“I thought you and Seohyun didn’t want to go to the music festival.”

Kyuhyun stared at him. “What?”

“These posters. They’re for the music festival, remember?”

“Ohhh,” The weirdo from yesterday popped back into his mind, “Yeah, no. We…aren’t in to music.”

“Oh,” Another flash of disappointment crossed the guide’s face, same as yesterday. Suddenly, a window of opportunity crossed Kyuhyun’s mind. A way to tell Ryeowook. He could either take it or leave it.

“But, wait!” Ryeowook startled at his outburst, “Umm…You obviously want to go.”

“No, Kyuhyun it’s fine-”

“No! No. Um, you should go, because Seohyun and I talked last night-”

“Oh, good!”

“-and she doesn’t like the tours.”

“Not because of you!” He hastily added when surprise and hurt filled the smaller’s eyes, “It’s just that she, Seohyun, thought that we would be spending more time together on this vacation and she thought that meant beaches and nature hikes and stuff. Tours aren’t great for…bonding, I suppose.”

“Oh…” Ryeowook’s voice was weak and his eyes were trained on the floor. Panicking, Kyuhyun barged on.

“You see, I really liked the tours. I really liked you. You’ve been so helpful and nice and she, we were just thinking that you could take us to a beach or something. From now on? I know the tourism websites said there were like thirty beaches here and you could just drop us off at one with some food and water and come back later. That way, you could go to your music thing on Friday and we could get some time alone together…” His voice trailed off uncertainly.

Ryeowook continued to stare at the floor with an unreadable expression on his face. Afraid that he had just seriously insulted the man, Kyuhyun prepared to launch into an explanation of how he wouldn’t ask for a refund. Then, Ryeowook spoke.

“I’m sorry.”

“What?” He asked for what felt like the tenth time that day.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude on your vacation. I’m just … not a guide.”

“What? No. You’ve been a great guide! It’s just that Seohyun-”

“I’m serious. I’m not a guide.” He paused to look Kyuhyun in the eye, “I’ve never worked with guests outside of the hotel. I’ve been to each of these places about once and all the facts I know are from the internet. I’m just a Korean speaker whose boss gave him a new job description but screwed up and nearly ruined a couple’s vacation and proposal because he’s so lonely and ignorant. I’m sorry.”

Kyuhyun gaped at him. He’d expected a slightly depressed guide or even an angry accusatory one, but not a remorseful one. Ryeowook’s face remained perfectly resigned. His eyes, unreadable.

As if she knew Kyuhyun had finished the dirty work, Seohyun appeared by his side.

“All right. Shall we go now?” She asked, seemingly oblivious to the tension.

“Sure,” Ryeowook smiled at her weakly , “I was just telling Kyuhyun that I would be happy to take you two to our finest beaches tomorrow. The sky should be cleared up by then and you’ll be able to have a great time together.”

“Oh,” Seohyun blinked as if surprised, “That sounds nice. Thank you.”

Ryeowook just nodded. “Let’s get back down to the car. We don’t want to get rained on.” Stuffing his hands in his pockets, the petite man turned and headed for the door.

An overwhelming surge of guilt hit Kyuhyun as he watched their old guide slip away like a kicked puppy. He was the kicker. Even with Seohyun’s hand in his and her cheery mood, the guilt remained, digging into him for reasons he could not even perceive.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

He felt like an idiot. He was an idiot.

Ryeowook buried his face in his hands.

All this time he’d tried desperately to help Kyuhyun to make up for the fact that he wasn’t a real tour guide and all he was doing was making things worse.

Seohyun didn’t like him. Of course she didn’t like him. How much time from her boyfriend had he stolen from her? His incessant chatter, his lame jokes; he was surprised Kyuhyun didn’t hate him. He couldn’t believe when they’d looked at each other at the top of the fort he’d actually thought….Well. It didn’t matter. He’d been wrong. Delusional, almost. Really, the least he could do now was let SeoKyu have their remaining time together.

So now he sat outside, hunched over a patio table, as his guests browsed the cocoa shop. Despite everything, Kyuhyun had insisted he take them into town. Ryeowook supposed it was too late to go to the beach.

This time though, he’d made sure to keep his distance. It was easier now that they knew the basic phrases; he would just go in to settle a bargain once or twice and that was it.

Seohyun breezed out of the shop, another bag in hand. Kyuhyun followed with a bag of his own. The taller smiled brightly at Ryeowook as if saying how much better shopping was without him in the way. Ryeowook forced a smile back.

“So, Ryeowook. Where shall we go next?” Seohyun looked at him expectantly.

She was a lot less dictative than yesterday, and actually seemed interested in what Ryeowook had to say about the stores. Ironic considering Kyuhyun had definitely told her he wasn’t a real guide.

Eyes cast downward, Ryeowook considered his choices for a moment.

“Do you guys like antiques?”

*     *     *     *     *

It was the cutest little shop he knew. Okay, so maybe it had more floor space than most houses but it was still cute. Every local town had its own ‘junk drawer’ shop and here it was Special Spares; antiques for every occasion. The antique shop resided in the corner of the town square. With its delicate iron wrought sign and friendly owners, it was the one place Ryeowook visited every time he came to town. This time was no exception.

While Seohyun and Kyuhyun lingered in the front, Ryeowook soon found himself in the back of the store. Shelves and shelves of random objects stood there waiting to be bought. It was much more than a treasure hunt. Slowly perusing the funky arrangements of trinkets, Ryeowook could feel some of his disappointment fade in the relaxing aura of the shop.

He took a deep breath. The place was empty, but he wasn’t lonely. Everything was old but filled with life. He was surrounded by chaos, but he felt calm. This was his escape.

“Hello?”

Ryeowook jerked around, nearly dropping a wire giraffe.

“Wookie?” A dark-haired head poked around the shelf.

“Maria?”

“Oh, Wookie! It’s so good to see you!”

Ryeowook laughed as the twins’ mother pulled him into a hug.

“I feel like it’s been months! Wow! If Kat and Jonny hadn’t been updating me about every second of their work life, I would’ve thought you’d gone back to Korea!”

“Nope, I’m still here. And it’s great to see you, Maria.” He patted her lightly on the back, “I didn’t realize you’d be working today.”

“Oh, the boss had some errands to run, but it’s fine,” She pulled back with a huge grin on her face, “I could use the extra cash with Kat going to college overseas and all. Did you know, she is so excited to see Europe?”

Ryeowook nodded and smiled as the tiny woman poured out all the details of her daughter’s music scholarship and how much good his piano lessons did for them. It always amazed him how many times someone could slip ‘thank you’ into the conversation.  

“And she’s been so busy between packing and work that she doesn’t even have time to play at our music festival this year! It's disappointing but I’ve come to terms with it.”

Ryeowook nodded understandingly. Ms. Duple, or Maria as she insisted he call her, was always in charge of coordinating the seasonal festivals. Those were the ones he always Kat trained hardest for, since neither one of them wanted to fail her mom.

Unfortunately, this year she would be leaving for college within two weeks and had chosen not to play. It was disheartening to Ryeowook, since it would’ve been the last time he’d see her perform, a long time.Still, he'd reluctantly given her the break and to let her prepare for college. He was seriously regretting it now. 

It had been two days and they still hadn’t made up from that fight. They hadn’t even talked since that night. Kat just seemed too busy but Jonny was deliberately avoiding him. For Ryeowook, the sudden loss of his only companions was incredibly upsetting. He’d pushed it aside during the day, but now, with their mom standing right in front of him, it only added to the painful stress of he was feeling.

“…and I’m sure you’ll be incredible filling his space.”

“I’m sorry,” Ryeowook shook his head, realizing that he hadn’t been listening, “Could you repeat that? I sort of lost focus there.”

“Oh, yeah. I was just saying how it was a shame Mr. Parker’s arthritis is acting up too much, but you’ll be a great filling in for him at ther festival,” She waved her hand dismissively as if she hadn’t just shook Ryeowook to his bones, “You taught Kat so well and the best teachers always have the best skill! Personally, I can’t wait to hear you play. You know I’ve never really heard you play before? Funny, right?”

“Wookie?” She asked, concerned when the petite man didn’t respond and instead turned pale and stopped breathing.

“F-f-fill in for M-Mr. Parker?” He tried to take steady breaths but it wasn’t working.

“Yes, sweetie. Is something wrong? Did you not know? Colin Angelton came in one day and told me you would have to replace Mr. Parker-”

“Colin??? Colin did this???” His voice came out an octave higher than usual but he couldn’t have cared less. He was way too busy freaking out.

“Yes. He’s your boss right? I figured he would have told you-”

“Well he didn’t!”

“It’s alright. Shh, shh…” The short woman grabbed Ryeowook by the shoulders and calmed him down with a few placating gestures.

“Look, sweetie. I have an extra copy of the performance music in my office. I’ll just go get it. I’m sure someone of you talent will learn it fine by Friday.”

“No, no, no,” Ryeowook grabbed her arm, “I-I can’t perform. You have to pull me out.”

Maria gave him a pitying look, “I’m sorry. I can’t do that.”

“Why not???” There goes the high voice again.

“This isn’t just a performance. It’s the opening and closing performance, with the national anthem and traditional folk song medley. We can’t just cut those out.”

“Then get someone else to do it!”

“It’s three days from the festival. Anyone else who can do it already has their own performance lined up.”

“Then…then…” His voice died out as Maria only shook her head sadly.

“I’m sorry, Wook. We can't change anything now.”

“But I can’t…I can’t…” Ryeowook sank to the floor.

"See? Look, you're already on all the flyers and the programs," She handed him one and Ryeowook found one thing he missed while looking at those posters: His name.

Ryeowook choked back the tears. Old insecurities and even worse, old hopes resurfaced threatening to overtake his life once again. Clenching his jaw, he forced them down the drain. He could not perform. That was final. 

"Wookie, if it were any other set...." 

He raced away from the coordinator, not wanting to hear her useless apologies.

Colin knew. Colin knew everything about him. Why he was on this island, why he worked in a lobby, why he didn't perform, why he couldn't perform.

Hand gripping the crumpled flyer, Ryeowook sped out of the antique shop barely noticing Kyuhyun's worried look he was seeing so much red. 

Colin knew his limits. And he'd pushed him over anyways.